Simon Lichtenberg

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Simon Lichtenberg
Simon Lichtenberg
birthday 15th December 1997 (age 22)
nationality GermanyGermany Germany
Nickname (s) The Sorcerer
professional since 2018
Prize money £ 13,850 as of August 31, 2020
Highest break 109 ( Q School 2017/1 )
Century Breaks 1 (as of August 31, 2020)
Main tour successes
World championships -
Ranking tournament victories -
Minor tournament victories -
World rankings
Highest WRL place 93 ( June-August 2019 )
Current WRL location 112 (as of August 17, 2020)

Simon Lichtenberg (born December 15, 1997 ) is a German snooker player from Berlin . He became German champion in 2016 and became the first German to win the U21 European Championship in 2018 . As a result, he qualified as the fourth German for the main tour of the snooker professionals.

Career

2005–2018: Beginnings as an amateur

Simon Lichtenberg started playing snooker when he was 8 years old. His father, who comes from England , brought him to this . In March 2012 he reached the round of the last 48 when he took part in the U21 European Championship for the first time. A month later, he moved into the final of the German U21 Championship, losing to Lukas Kleckers 1: 3. At the German Youth Championship 2013 he reached the final in the age groups U16 and U21. After winning 3-0 against Moritz Thomas in the U16 Juniors , he lost 4 2-4 against Kleckers in the U21 Juniors. In October 2013 he took part in the German men's championship for the first time and made it to the round of 16, in which he was eliminated with 2: 3 against Sascha Lippe . At the U21 European Championships in 2014 and 2015 he reached the round of 32. In 2015 he lost 4-0 to eventual tournament winner Darryl Hill . In July 2015, he also made it into the round of 32 at the U21 World Cup . In the 2015 German championship , he reached the round of 16 after not taking part in the previous year.

In the 2015/16 season Lichtenberg took part in tournaments of the Players Tour Championship for the first time. After he was eliminated in the preliminary round at the Paul Hunter Classic 2015 and the Ruhr Open 2015 , he reached the round of 128 at the Bulgarian Open in November 2015 , in which he was defeated 1: 4 to the Englishman Oliver Lines . In his two other PTC tournaments of the season ( Gibraltar Open 2015 and Gdynia Open 2016 ) he was eliminated in the preliminary round. At the U21 European Championship 2016 he again reached the round of 32. In May 2016 he won a German Grand Prix tournament for the first time with a 3-2 final win over Roman Dietzel . At the U21 World Cup in 2016 , he was eliminated in the round of 64. A few days later, he reached the last 128 at the Paul Hunter Classic and lost 4-1 to Robbie Williams . In November 2016, Lichtenberg made it past the round of 16 for the first time in the German championship . After victories against Jörn Hannes-Hühn , Sascha Breuer and Jan Eisenstein , he finally made it to the final, where he became German champion with a 4-2 win against Roman Dietzel. At the beginning of 2017 he was eliminated in the preliminary round at the Gibraltar Open and reached the round of 16 at the U21 European Championship and the sixteenth finals at the Men's European Championship , for which he was nominated for the first time.

In May 2017 Lichtenberg tried to qualify for the Main Tour through the Q School . However, he did not get past the third round in either of the two tournaments. At the beginning of the 2017/18 season , he and Lukas Kleckers formed the German team at the World Cup , which was eliminated in the preliminary round. A little later he reached the quarter-finals of the U21 World Snooker Championship , in which he had to admit defeat to eventual world champion Fan Zhengyi 5-0. In qualifying for the 2017 Paul Hunter Classic , he lost his opening match against Ashley Carty . At the German championship in 2017 , he was eliminated in the semifinals against the eventual German champion Richard Wienold . In February 2018, Lichtenberg moved to Sofia as the first German to reach the final of the U21 European Championship after defeating Mikhail Terechow , Kobe Vanoppen and Brian Ochoiski , among others . In the final against Welsh Tyler Rees , he won 6-3 and was thus qualified for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Main Tour seasons . Since the German Billard Union had not previously joined the newly founded World Snooker Federation , which the professional world association WPBSA had made a condition for players to be able to take on the professional tour, it was initially unclear whether he would get the Main Tour place. However, the WPBSA confirmed a few days later that he would receive the Main Tour Card regardless of the association's open status.

In March 2018, Lichtenberg successfully survived the preliminary rounds of the Gibraltar Open by winning against the British Robert James (4: 3) and Dylan Craig (4: 2). In the main tournament he was defeated in round 2 (round of the last 64) to the professional player Scott Donaldson with 1: 4.

First professional years

In his first professional season , Lichtenberg started qualifying for the Riga Masters 2018 with a 4-0 defeat against Jamie Jones . A few days later he won his first professional win in the qualifying round for the World Open when he beat former world champion Ken Doherty 5-2 . At the main tournament in Yushan, China, however, he lost 5-2 to Chinese Mei Xiwen in the first round . In August 2018 he lost his opening match in the qualifying competitions of the Indian Open 2019 and the China Championship 2018 against Alexander Ursenbacher from Switzerland ( 2-4 ) and Barry Hawkins from England (5-0). Shortly afterwards he won his first round match at the Paul Hunter Classic in Fürth against English amateur Wayne Brown 4: 3 and lost in the second round 1: 4 to Alfie Burden .

In the remaining 12 ranked tournaments of the season Lichtenberg remained without a win. These included a 6-2 loss to Marco Fu at the 2018 International Championship and a 6-3 loss to Stephen Maguire at the 2018 UK Championship , where he had already led 2-0 and 3-2. In qualifying for the German Masters 2019 (against Niu Zhuang ) and at the Welsh Open 2019 (against Billy Joe Castle ) he only lost in the decision-making frame. In qualifying for the 2019 World Cup , he had to admit defeat to Englishman Joe Perry 1:10 in the first round . In the world rankings , Lichtenberg finished his first professional season in 124th place.

In his second season as a professional Lichtenberg remained without a win in the first ten tournaments. Four times he only lost in the decider ; at the International Championship 2019 against Ding Junhui , at the English Open 2019 against Hossein Vafaei , at the UK Championship 2019 against Joe Perry and at the European Masters 2020 against David Lilley . His first win was at the Welsh Open 2020 when he beat the top 30 player Ryan Day 4-1 , but then lost to Dominic Dale (2-4). In the two following tournaments, the Snooker Shoot-Out and the Gibraltar Open , he had to accept two more first round participations.

In the qualification for the 2020 World Cup , Lichtenberg defeated the Englishman Adam Duffy 6-2 in the first round and was then eliminated against Mark Joyce 3-6 . He finished the season in 112th place in the world ranking and thus missed the direct qualification for the professional tour after two years. He had to compete in the Q School and met in the first game against Kishan Hirani , who had finished the season in 93rd place. After the hard-fought 3-2 win against the Welshman, he confidently reached the playoff and with a 4-1 win over long-time professional Leo Fernandez , he extended his membership on the Main Tour for another 2 years.

Team career

From 2010 Lichtenberg played at the Snookerfabrik Berlin . With this he rose in 2012 to the 2nd Bundesliga and 2015 to the 1st Bundesliga . In the 2015/16 season he finished third with the Berliners and came third in the individual ranking. In the following season the relegation succeeded in relegation. At the beginning of the 2017/18 season , the snooker factory canceled its team and Lichtenberg moved to the 1st DSC Hannover . After not taking part in league games in the 2018/19 season, Lichtenberg switched to German champions 1. SC Mayen-Koblenz for the 2019/20 season , with whom he became runner-up in 2020.

successes

Result year competition Final opponent Final score
Amateur tournaments (selection)
Second 2012 German U16 championship GermanyGermany Lukas Kleckers 1: 3
winner 2013 German U16 championship GermanyGermany Moritz Thomas 3-0
Second 2013 German U21 championship GermanyGermany Lukas Kleckers 2: 4
winner 2016 German championship GermanyGermany Roman Dietzel 4: 2
winner 2018 U21 European Championship WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Tyler Rees 6: 3

Others

Simon Lichtenberg passed his Abitur at the John Lennon Gymnasium in Berlin in 2015 and has been studying economics at the TU Berlin since October 2016 .

Web links

Commons : Simon Lichtenberg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Thomas Hein : Snooker DJM: Interview with Simon "The Sorcerer". In: snookermania.de. April 4, 2013, archived from the original on November 15, 2016 ; accessed on December 23, 2016 .
  2. Profile of Simon Lichtenberg on CueTracker (as of April 25, 2020)
  3. ^ A b Frank B. Halfar: Simon Lichtenberg Wins German National Championship. In: snookerhq.com. November 27, 2016, accessed December 30, 2016 .
  4. German Youth Championship 2012 - Snooker U16. In: portal.billardarea.de. German Billard Union, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  5. German Youth Championship 2013 - Snooker U16. In: portal.billardarea.de. German Billard Union, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  6. German Youth Championship 2013 - Snooker U21. In: portal.billardarea.de. German Billard Union, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  7. ^ Prize Money Won by Simon Lichtenberg in the 2015-2016 season. In: cuetracker.net. Ron Florax, accessed November 13, 2016 .
  8. a b Prize Money Won by Simon Lichtenberg in Season 2016–2017. In: cuetracker.net. Ron Florax, accessed November 13, 2016 .
  9. Eight titles awarded on the final day. In: portal.billardarea.de. Deutsche Billard-Union, November 13, 2016, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  10. Prize Money Won by Simon Lichtenberg in the 2017-2018 season. In: cuetracker.net. Ron Florax, accessed February 9, 2018 .
  11. Simon Lichtenberg is the new U21 European snooker champion. In: portal.billardarea.de. Deutsche Billard-Union, February 9, 2018, accessed on February 10, 2018 .
  12. ^ Rolf Kalb : Scandal: Simon Lichtenberg is not allowed to play on the main tour. In: eurosport.de. Eurosport , February 9, 2018, accessed February 10, 2018 .
  13. Thomas Hein: Euro2018Snooker: Simon Lichtenberg is the U21 European Champion. In: snookermania.de. February 9, 2018, accessed February 10, 2018 .
  14. ^ David Caulfield: Simon Lichtenberg Captures European Under-21 Championship. In: snookerhq.com. February 9, 2018, accessed February 10, 2018 .
  15. WSF News: Simon Lichtenberg Awarded Tour Card. In: worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association, accessed February 16, 2018 .
  16. 2018 Gibraltar Open. In: cuetracker.net. Ron Florax, accessed March 26, 2018 .
  17. Prize Money Won by Simon Lichtenberg in the 2018-2019 season. In: cuetracker.net. Ron Florax, accessed April 19, 2019 .
  18. a b Prize Money Won By Simon Lichtenberg In Season 2019-2020. In: cuetracker.net. Ron Florax, accessed July 23, 2020 .
  19. Oberliga 2011/12. In: vbbv.billardmanager.de. Billard-Verband Berlin, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  20. 2nd Bundesliga Snooker North 2012/13. In: portal.billardarea.de. German Billard Union, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  21. 2nd Bundesliga Snooker North 2013/14. In: portal.billardarea.de. German Billard Union, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  22. 2nd Bundesliga Snooker North 2014/15. In: portal.billardarea.de. German Billard Union, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  23. 1st Bundesliga Snooker 2015/16. In: portal.billardarea.de. German Billard Union, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  24. 1st Bundesliga Snooker 2016/17. In: portal.billardarea.de. German Billard Union, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  25. 1st Bundesliga Snooker 2017/18. In: portal.billardarea.de. German Billard Union, accessed on February 9, 2018 .
  26. 1st Bundesliga Snooker 2019/20. In: portal.billardarea.de. German Billard Union, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  27. Thomas Hein: Interview: German champion Simon Lichtenberg has birthday. In: snookermania.de. December 9, 2016, archived from the original on December 23, 2016 ; accessed on December 23, 2016 .